Biman may resume domestic flights in January
Biman Bangladesh Airlines plans to resume its domestic flights in January in a bid to grab a share of the growing aviation market.
It will run on the domestic routes using a pair of Dash 8-Q400s that it is sourcing from Egypt's Smart Aviation.
“We are in the final phase of acquiring the two aircraft on a five-year dry-lease contract. The agreement has not been signed yet, but hopefully it will be inked soon,” said AM Mosaddique Ahmed, acting managing director of the airline.
A dry lease is an arrangement whereby an aircraft financing entity (lessor) provides an aircraft without insurance, crew, ground staff, supporting equipment and maintenance.
These aircraft will be used for flights to Chittagong, Sylhet, Cox's Bazar, Jessore, Rajshahi, Saidpur and Barisal, Ahmed said.
Due to a shortage of aircraft, Biman authorities suspended flight operations on four out of seven domestic routes in 2007. The last route -- Dhaka-Cox's Bazar -- was closed in June 2012.
The flag carrier currently takes passengers to and from Sylhet and Chittagong via its international flights. It runs 18 international routes through 10 aircraft at present, according to its website.
Biman added four Boeing 777-300ERs in the first quarter of 2014, phasing out its DC-10 fleet.
As part of its fleet expansion plan, the airline will take delivery of two new Boeing 737-800s in 2015 to replace its ageing A310 fleet. Biman is set to re-launch domestic operations at a time when the aviation market is heating up with a number of new players.
A new private carrier, US-Bangla Airlines, has already launched domestic flights; another new player, Epic Airways Ltd, aims to begin flights on domestic routes by the end of 2014. Currently, four private local airlines -- United, Regent, Novoair and US-Bangla -- fly mainly on four domestic routes from Dhaka to Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Sylhet and Jessore.
The Dhaka-Chittagong route draws the highest volume of traffic followed by Dhaka-Jessore.
At present, 40,000-50,000 passengers fly on the domestic routes a month, with Dhaka-Chittagong accounting for 70 percent.
In 2013, some 648,019 people travelled nationally by air, up 10 percent year-on-year, according to data from Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB).
Biman will also use the Dash 8-Q400s aircraft to operate on two regional routes -- one to Yangon and the other to Kolkata, Ahmed said.
Currently, 26 foreign and five local airlines operate flights in Bangladesh.
The total number of passengers in the country will hit 10.2 million and the volume of air cargo 3.6 lakh tonnes in 2020, up 76 percent and 56.5 percent respectively from current levels, according to a projection by CAAB.
The annual aviation market size is worth around $440 million now, involving 5.8 million passengers and 2.3 lakh tonnes of cargo, industry insiders said.
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